#THE BANKERS’ BOOKS EVIDENCE ACT, 1891 
_________ 

##ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS 
________ 

SECTIONS 
1. Title and extent. 
2. Definitions. 
3. Power to extend provisions of Act. 
4. Mode of proof of entries in bankers’ books. 
5. Case in which officer of bank not compellable to produce books. 
6. Inspection of books by order of Court or Judge. 
7. Costs. 
8. Order of court to be construed to be order made by specified officer. 



#THE BANKERS’ BOOKS EVIDENCE ACT, 1891 

##ACT NO. 18 OF 1891 

[1st October, 1890.] 

An Act to amend the Law of Evidence with respect to Bankers’ Books. 

  WHEREAS it is expedient to amend the Law of Evidence with respect to Bankers’ books; It is hereby 
enacted as follows:— 

1. **Title and extent.**—(1) This Act may be called the Bankers’ Books Evidence Act, 1891. 

(2) It extends to the whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir; 

2. **Definitions.**—In this Act, unless there is something repugnant in the subject or context,— 

(1) “company” means any company as defined in section 3 of the Companies Act, 1956 (1 of 
1956), and includes a foreign company within the meaning of section 591 of that Act; 

(1A) “corporation” means any body corporate established by any law for the time being in force 
in India and includes the Reserve Bank of India, the State Bank of India and any subsidiary bank as 
defined in the State Bank of India (Subsidiary Banks) Act, 1959 (38 of 1959);

(2) “bank” and “banker” mean— 

  (a) any company or corporation carrying on the business of banking;

  (b) any partnership or individual to whose books the provisions of this Act shall have been 
extended as hereinafter provided; 

  (c) any post office savings bank or money order office;

(3) “bankers’ books” include ledgers, day-books, cash-books, account-books and all other books 
used in the ordinary business of a bank; 

(4) “legal proceeding” means,— 

  (i) any proceeding or inquiry in which evidence is or may be given; 

  (ii) an arbitration; and 

  (iii) any investigation or inquiry under the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974), or 
under  any  other  law  for  the  time  being  in  force  for  the  collection  of  evidence,  conducted  by  a 
police  officer  or  by  any  other  person  (not  being  a  magistrate)  authorised  in  this  behalf  by  a 
magistrate or by any law for the time being in force;

(5) “the Court” means the person or persons before whom a legal proceeding is held or taken; 

(6) “Judge” means a Judge of a High Court Division; 

(7) “trial” means any hearing before the Court at which evidence is taken; and 

(8) “certified copy” means a copy of any entry in the books of a bank together with a certificate 
written at the foot of such copy that it is a true copy of such entry, that such entry is contained in one 
of the ordinary books of the bank and was made in the usual and ordinary course of business, and that 
such book is still in the custody of the bank, and where the copy was obtained by a mechanical or 
other process which in itself ensured the accuracy of the copy, a further certificate to that effect, but 
where  the  book  from  which  such  copy  was  prepared has  been  destroyed  in  the  usual course  of  the 
bank’s  business  after the  date  on  which the copy  had  been  so prepared,  a further  certificate to  that 
effect, each such certificate being dated and subscribed by the principal accountant or manager of the 
bank with his name and official title. 

3. **Power to extend provisions of Act.**—The  State  Government  may,  from  time  to  time,  by 
notification in the Official Gazette, extend the provisions of this Act to the books of any partnership or 
individual carrying on the business of bankers within the territories under its administration, and keeping 
a  set  of  not  less  than  three  ordinary  account-books,  namely,  a  cashbook,  a  day-book  or  journal,  and  a 
ledger, and may in like manner rescind any such notification. 

4. **Mode of proof of entries in bankers’ books.**—Subject to the provisions of this Act, a certified 
copy of any entry in a banker’s book shall in all legal proceedings be received as prima facie evidence of 
the existence of such entry, and  shall be admitted as evidence of the matters, transactions and accounts 
therein recorded in every case where, and to the same extent as, the original entry itself is now by law 
admissible, but not further or otherwise. 

5. **Case in which officer of bank not compellable to produce books.**—No officer of a bank shall in 
any legal proceeding to which the bank is not a party be compellable to produce any banker’s book the 
contents  of  which  can  be  proved  under  this  Act,  or  to  appear  as  a  witness  to  prove  the  matters, 
transactions  and  accounts  therein  recorded,  unless  by  order  of  the  Court  or  a  Judge  made  for  special 
cause. 

6. **Inspection of books by order of Court or Judge.**—(1) On the application of any party to a legal 
proceeding the Court or a Judge may order that such party be at liberty to inspect and take copies of any 
entries in a banker’s book for any of the purposes of such proceeding, or may order the bank to prepare 
and produce, within a time to be specified in the order, certified copies of all such entries, accompanied 
by a further certificate that no other entries are to be found in the books of the bank relevant to the matters 
in  issue  in  such  proceeding,  and  such  further  certificate  shall  be  dated  and  subscribed  in  manner 
hereinbefore directed in reference to certified copies. 

(2) An order under this or the preceding section may be made either with or without summoning the 
bank, and shall be served on the bank three clear days (exclusive of bank holidays) before the same is to 
be obeyed, unless the Court or Judge shall otherwise direct. 

(3) The bank may at any time before the time limited for obedience to any such order as aforesaid 
either offer to produce their books at the trial or give notice of their intention to show cause against such 
order, and thereupon the same not be enforced without further order. 

7. **Costs.**—(1) The costs of any application to the Court or a Judge under or for the purposes of this 
Act and the costs of anything done or to be done under an order of the Court or a Judge made under or for 
the purposes of this Act shall be in the discretion of the Court or Judge, who may further order such costs 
or any part thereof to be paid to any party by the bank if they have been incurred in consequence of any 
fault or improper delay on the part of the bank. 

(2) Any order made under this section for the payment of costs to or by a bank may be enforced as if 
the bank were a party to the proceeding. 

(3) Any order under this section awarding costs may, on application to any Court of Civil Judicature 
designated  in  the  order,  be  executed  by  such  Court  as  if  the  order  were  a  decree  for  money  passed  by 
itself: 

Provided  that  nothing  in  this  sub-section  shall  be  construed  to  derogate  from  any  power  which  the 
Court or Judge making the order may possess for the enforcement of its or his directions with respect to 
the payment of costs. 

8. **Order of court to be construed to be order made by specified officer.**—In the application of 
sections 5, 6 and 7 to any investigation or inquiry referred to in sub-clause (iii) of clause (4) of section 2, 
the order of al Court or a Judge referred to in the said sections shall be construed as referring to an order 
made by an officer of a rank not lower than the rank of a Superintendent of Police as may be specified in 
this behalf by the appropriate Government. 

*Explanation.*—In  the  this  section,  “appropriate  Government”  means  the  Government  by  which  the 
police officer or any other person conducting the investigation or inquiry is employed.